The Night's Embrace
by GodofDespair
Summary: The story of the dark lord's rise and fall.Yuffiroth, sorta
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note:This story takes place during the game. It starts right after Cloud and co. get in a fight with Yufffie on their way to Junon.

Ch1. The Theif

Cloud walked over to the ninja they'd just beaten and nudged her with his foot.

"Comon lets just leave 'er Cloud." Barrett said.

"No she put up a decent fight she might be of use." He kicked her again, a bit harder this time.

"I hope we didn't kill her..." That fear was quickly evaporated when the little ninja got up and started screaming at Cloud.

"You spikey-haired jerk!One more time lets go one more time!!"Needless to say this was quite a shock to everone present.

"Um...not interested."

"Your pretty scared of me huh?"

"...petrified" Cloud monotoned suddenly wondering if Barrett was right and they should have killed her.

"I'm gonna leave,REALLY!"

'Thank you god.' went through both Cloud and Barrett's mind's simultaneously, unfortunately for them Aries and Tifa had other plans.

"Wait a second!" the ancient called.

"You want me to go with you?"

"Thats right!" replied Tifa cheerily, Cloud was busy banging his head against his sword in frustration.

"Alright I'll go with you!" the little ninja shouted jumping up and down, "My names Yuffie."

"I'm Tifa, the dog is Red, that big guy with the gun on his arm is Barrett , this is Aries, and hair-gel over there is Cloud."

"HAIR-GEL?!!!" Cloud almost screamed, this was just to much, "I TOLD YOU MY HAIR IS LIKE THIS NATURALLY!!!"

"Whatever you say..."

"Why you..."

"As important as this unintelligible argument is can we please get a move on." Red drolled.

"Yeah lets get... YOU CAN TALK?"Yuffie gasped.

"Yes, I'll tell you all about it once we get to an inn."

And so the group continued on towards Junon with Yuffie in tow, but unbeknown to them there progress was being watched.

Sephiroth hopped down from the tree he had watched the puppet and his party fight that ninja girl from. He was already working on a plan to use her to his advantage but there was something about her that troubled him, it was like he'd seen her before. She was obviously Wutainese but he hadn't been to Wutai since the war and that was six years ago. She would have been a kid...

It mattered little, as long as he could use her he didn't care who she was or where she came from, but he just couldn't get that face out of his head so familiar...

Authors Note: Ok short yes i know but this is really just the prologue type thing. Please forgive the awful writing,


	2. Chapter 2 Junon

Authors note: I forgot to mention some Japanese guy owns ff7,its characters, and locations. There now i can't be sued...I hope

Ch.2 Nothings worth this...

'What have I gotten myself into?' Yuffie wondered as Cloud and Barrett got into yet another argument about hair-gel.

"Dares no way dats your natural hair!"

"It is!"

"Gelled!"

"Is not!"

Yuffie wasn't sure if their materia was worth this. She wasn't sure any amount of materia,gil, or any other form of treasure was worth tagging along with these brain-dead "heroes". The only one that was intelligent enough to count past twenty was the wolf thing but talking to him was like speaking to a scientist. Luckily for her respite was finally coming into view, Junon. She could go have a conversation with some drunks and try to regrow all the braincells she lost listening to these people.

An hour later Yuffie was wandering into a random diner in Junon's cheap side with the money she'd lifted from her "friends". She took a seat at an empty booth and placed her order, finally a moment of peace. She didn't have long to enjoy it though as a tall cloaked figure sat down across from her.

"Excuse me the seats taken." Yuffie said in a rather annoyed voice, she was i no mood for company.

"Trust me what I have to say will be of great interest to you." the stranger said as he pulled out a red orb Yuffie immediately recognized as a summon materia.

"Ok you've got my attention, what do you want for that?"

"Nothing," the robed man said handing her the summon, "consider this an advance payment."

"For what?"

"I have a job for you," the robed man said, "Interested?"

"Well it depends, whats the job?"

"For now just stay with those buffoons."

"That's it?" Yuffie asked in disbelief, no way he'd give her a mastered Odin just to tag along with these fools.

"For now," he replied as he got up and left. Yuffie was about to get up and follow him when her order arrived, so she decided she'd question him more when next they met.

Sephiroth walked out of the diner with an amused smile on his face, that was much easier then he expected. The girl hadn't even asked his name, but he failed to learn hers. He still could not remember where he'd seen her before, she looked like someone he once knew but...

Sephiroth stopped dead in his tracks. She couldn't be...

Yuffie took her time getting back to the hotel, stopping a poking around in every shop along the way. She really didn't want want to tag along with this group of numskulls but she really didn't have to much of a choice, that guy didn't seem like someone you cross. She realized she didn't even know what this group was out to do, sure she'd asked but all she got was a cryptic "We're out to stop the ultimate evil."

Thirty minutes later she arrived at the hotel they were staying at, it wasn't much to look at on the outside but it was a lot worse on the inside. Rats,roaches, straw mattresses, Yuffie knew this group had enough money to stay in a nice hotel(she'd stolen enough to stay a week from them), but then again they didn't really rank to high on the intelligence scale, they had arguments about hair gel after all.

"Speaking of hair gel," Yuffie muttered as she entered their room to see there self-proclaimed leader reciting some ridicules tale about his time in the army. Groaning audibly Yuffie slumped onto one of the beds in the room. Cloud, mistaking it for a shout of joy, continued on with renewed gusto. Yuffie couldn't help wondering what his parents had done to the poor guy to make him so brain dead, she began entertaining thoughts of baby cloud being used as a baseball bat and couldn't repress a laugh, earning her weird looks from everyone.

"Whats so funny?" Cloud asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Oh nothing," was Yuffie's reply, "but I do have a question for you."

"Ok shoot."

"What our we out to accomplish, I mean what's the purpose for this whole adventure?"

Everyone turned sober, the seemed to be in the midst of a horrible memory, finally Cloud spoke.

"I dont know how you feel about him, maybe you admire him like i used to,"he began, "But apparently he's gone crazy and now he wants to destroy the world."

"Okay well who is it?"

"Sephiroth."

Yuffie was stunned, this group of morons were out hunting Sephiroth. Memories came flooding back to her, she got up and ran out of the room...

Author's note: I no, I no it's short.I'm sorry. The next chapter should be longer, and thanx to all my two reviewers.


	3. Chapter 3 old Scars

Author's note: Okay this time I'll try and write a longer chapter, and just a warning this chapters is almost entirely flashbacks,sorry if you hate flashbacks. Oh and one more thing, i no Sephiroth is really only like six something but in this story he's seven foot tall, i think it's more fitting since he's always portrayed as towering over people.

CH.3 Memories

Yuffie leaned over the railing on the balcony lost in thought. A couple of times Aerith or Tifa had tried to reach her, but came up short. Tifa got really close, her parents had died at the hands of the butcher as well. Yuffie still remembered the day he came to Wutai, before the war.

(9years ago)

The diplomats from the Shinra empire arrived and as a member of the royal family Yuffie had to be at the reception. The Shinra people arrived in a huge flying contraption, that was the first time she saw him. He stepped off the airship,as they called it, right after Rufus Shinra. He was the tallest man Yuffie had ever seen in her life, he had silver hair longer then she was tall and a sword to match. The Shinrans introduced him as General Sephiroth, she noticed her father quiver a little at the name, now that she looks back at it it was the first time she'd every seen her father afraid. Though she really didn't understand why at the time, she hadn't sensed anything particularly scary about the guy.

After the initial greetings the Shinrans were given quarters in the palace, the negotiations were to begin tomorrow. Yuffie wanted to learn more about this General Sephiroth, so she snuck into the Shinra quarters under the guise of a servant. She couldn't help but notice how even his own men seemed to shrink away from him. Being an optimistic child Yuffie took it upon herself to befriend him. She had no idea what she was getting herself into.

Sephiroth stood on the beach enjoying the cool ocean breeze, and the solitude of the night. Yet still he was troubled by the girl he had chosen to be his agent. It was her, he was sure of it, he still remembered how they met.

Sephiroth closed the door to his room, it had been a tiring day. He looked about his room, it wasn't as big as he would like but it would do. He was about to lay down when he noticed the pot in the corner moved. Drawing Masamune Sephiroth slowly walked toward the corner, prepared to skewer whatever poor fool the Wutainies thought would be able to assassinate him.

Needless to say when he opened the lid he was shocked to find a nine-year old girl curled up asleep in the pot. Deciding she wasn't a threat he picked her up and laid her on the bed till he could figure out what to do with her. He didn't have long to ponder however as she woke up not a minute after being placed on the bed.

"Hey Sephy!" she shouted upon seeing him, " I was wondering when you would get here!"

Now Sephiroth was confused, she obviously wasn't an assassin seeing as how she had admitted to waiting for him. She was dressed as a servant but her attitude just wasn't right for one.

"Tell me, who are you?"

"My names Yuffie!" the girl all but shouted, "I'm a princess, and a ninja."

"Okay so why are you here?" Seph asked, this was starting to make less and less sense.

"Well i wanted to surprise you by popping out of that pot, but i guess i fell asleep." Yuffie giggled.

"I gathered as much. What I mean is why did you come? Was it to spy on me?Did your father send you?"

"Huh?Why would daddy want me to spy on you?He doesn't even want me to be over here. But I came because i want to be your friend!"

It took Sephiroth a full minute to process this,someone wanting to be his friend and apparently on their own accord. Being the most feared and hated being in all of existence he wasn't really prepared for this kind of thing.

"Tell me Yuffie, why would you wish to be my friend. Whats in it for you?"

"Wadda ya mean whats in it for me?" She asked in astonishment, "Friends don't expect things out of each other in order to be friends."

"Okay...Well there must be some reason you seek to befriend me." Sephiroth said, he was going to get the truth out of her one way or another.

"Everyone needs a friend!"she shouted, "And you don't seem to have many."

Strangely enough Seph believed her,maybe it was her personality she didn't seem like a liar. Maybe, deep down, he really wanted a friend. But mostly its just he was in a good mood and didn't think there was anything else more entertain to do around this dreary town while negotiations took place.

"Alright little one,lets be friends,"

"YAAAA!!!"

Sephiroth sighed,she was his only real friend. He had never meant to hurt her, but the war couldn't be avoided. Maybe she would forgive him.

The day afterward Yuffie took it upon herself to show Seph around her country, starting with the capital.

"And this is the market square, and thats the market, and thats a vendor dude wave!"

The day continued like that for several more hours before Yuffie got tired a decided to take a break 5 miles outside of town, in a shaded glade covered in flowers with a lovely spring. It was the epitome of natural beauty, calm, peaceful. Seph was surprised they hadn't set up a spa or some other kind of man made flaw.

"Why are we stopping?" Seph asked, honestly he was relieved the child s insistent talking had worn him out. He was starting to wonder why he'd agreed to this in the first place.

"I'm tired and we're at my favorite rest spot!" Yuffie exclaimed, she then promptly sat down and fell asleep. Seph just stared, he couldn't believe it,he really just couldn't believe it. He was stuck here till the brat woke,any harm to her could possibly be detrimental to the peace talks, and Seph wasn't really in the mood to subjugate another proud people, tourist attractions bored him, and he didnt actually have enough troops present for a war. So he waited,and waited,and waited.

About an hour and a half later Yuffie woke finally.

"Hey Sephy! I didn't expect you to stick around!"

"Well i had to,a fiend might have killed you in your sleep,"Seph explained slightly annoyed, "I hope you don't do this often."

"Oh i do it all the time Sephy, fiends don't like the smell of this place." Yuffie said, "Must be the flowers."

"Must be, lets get back to town."

Yuffie sighed, it was getting late, but for some reason she just couldn't suppress the memories. Remembering all the good times she had with Seph for those two months the talks went on only served to mock her. She knew he was the general so he had to leave the army, she understood that now and had forgiven him for that. But that didn't excuse him from what he did...

It had been two months and the talks had eventually degenerated into nothing but threats and broken formalities. Sephiroth knew what was coming, he knew he had no power to stop it. Sure he may be the most powerful soldier in existence but he had no real political power, the president had the loyalty of most of the army,only the elites were loyal to him and they we're spread all over the world. All he could do was try and end the coming storm as quickly and painlessly as possible.

He was worried how the coming conflict would affect Yuffie, as cold as he tried to be he had to admit not even he could stand completely alone. She was the only friend he'd ever had, and he was going to keep her if possible. He walked out to the glade, what had become their meeting place after it was no longer a good idea to be seen together publicly,and as he had suspected she was waiting.

"Sephy! I heard Daddy say he was gonna throw you all outta the country!" Yuffie exclaimed, "Is that really gonna happen i mean you did nothing wrong so you can stay right?Right?Sephy right?"

"Calm down little one,"Seph said,this wasn't going to be easy "I have to leave..."

"NO!"

"Calm down, I'll be back..."

"YA!!!!! I KNEW IT!" Yuffie began dancing, she probably would have continued on like that for a few minutes but she noticed the look on Seph's face as he sat down on a near by rock . "Whats wrong Sephy?"

"Stay still, listen carefully, please don't interrupt," Sephiroth was trying to decide how to put this... "You know how I'm the commanding general in the army right? Well see its my job to lead the soldiers in war,and whether i like it or not I've got to lead the warriors to war."

"Sephy...what are you saying?"Yuffie asked, it was starting to dawn on her.

"I believe, no i know the president is going to declare war on this country,and when that happens I'm going to have to lead the army, I'm going to have to kill your people."

"What...but,but,why Sephy? Why cant we all just be friends and get along?"

"Because arrogant fools who care only for their own gain are in control of Shinra, and Goto's to proud to bow to their demands." Sephiroth explained, "Though I believe Goto is more right in this conflict."

"Then why don't you join us?" Yuffie asked in an almost pleading tone.

"Would that it were so simple..." Seph sighed, "I must go now,this will be the last you see of me before the coming storm, and hopefully till after." And with that he got up and strode off leaving Yuffie to try and process everything she had just heard.

Looking back Sephiroth realized that was one of the hardest things he had every had to do. He let out a low depressed laugh, he had without blinking ordered the slaughter of whole cities yet he had trouble telling a nine year old what was what. Maybe he cared for her more then he knew...

The Shinrans left, and for the next 5 weeks Wutai readied it self for the coming flood. When it hit the world shuddered as the to greatest powers in existence squared off in a ruinous struggle that would last the next two years.

In the beginning the sides seemed fairly evenly matched, Shinra's air superiority allowed it to make bombing runs and level cities and such, but Wutai's ninjas were expert saboteurs, so only 25 of the airships were operational at any given time. As the war dragged on it became increasingly apparent that Shinra's almost limitless resources would guarantee them victory but the Wutainies still refused to surrender.

About 21 months into the war Sephiroth was starting to get agitated, almost 2/3s of the Wutainie's continent was under his control yet still the natives refused to back down. Not wanting to waste thousands of men on a direct assault on the capitol Seph came up wit a plan to break the Wutainies spirit. He had recently learned where most of Wutai's elite ninja warriors were making their attacks from. A small town in the foothills of a large mountain.

So he and 50 of his finest commandos took an airship and during mid-day stormed the town. The ninjas were shocked and slow to mount an affective resistance,the elites slaughtered them. They killed indiscriminatingly,young old, male female, it didn't matter. Once the fighters were dead Sephiroth ordered the impalement of any person over 50,the hanging of those 25-40,and the crucification of all the infants. His plan was a complete success, the Wutainie's were scared into surrendering about a month later.

There was only one thing he hadn't counted on,something that made the entire operation not worth it, at least not to him. While he was observing his soldiers handy work a small girl came up to him,tears in her eyes she said...

"Sephy...how could you?" Then she ran off,it took Seph a second to realize who it was. Once he did he went after her, but some how she evaded him. He decided he'd find her once it was all over, but he didn't see her again.

He regretted the decision the rest of his life.

And now back from the dead he still did,Sephiroth left the beach not feeling any better.

A small girl walked among the flames and the carnage, ignored by the soldiers for some reason or another, watching in horror at the atrocities being committed all around her. She wondered what could be the cause of so much evil when she saw him,her friend the great general. Fro a moment she thought he'd come to end the pain,stop the madness but then she saw him nod at the soldiers as they butchered her countrymen. She began to cry, gathering her courage, anger, and her anguish she walked over to him.

"Sephy...how could you?"

Not waiting for a reply she sped off into the mountains using the secret trails the ninja had taught her to be sure he wouldn't catch her. She camped out there fro a few days before coming back down to the burnt out husk of a village. Luckily for her the Wutainese soldiers were still cleaning up the mess, they took her back to the capitol and her fathered ordered three of the surviving ninjas to take her and hid in the mountains till the main Shinra army left. Goto surrendered the next day, most of his elites had died in that raid.

After several months Yuffie and her escorts came back from the wild and quietly re-integrated into Wutainese society.

She still remembered that night,the flames would be etched into her memory forever. She had been a fool to think that there was any good in Sephiroth,she bet he probably danced with delight at the pain he'd caused her. Well she was going to get back at him if it killed her and everyone else.

Author's note: okay another chapter done. oh and i suppose i should mention this, i don't see any religious connection to crucification. I view it just as the Romans did , a cruel way of killing people.


	4. Chapter 4 A plan

Authors note: Okay sorry about the long wait for an update fans. Had some problems that kept me from the comp for a while. Anyway now I'm back please enjoy this next chapter.

CH.4

"So any word of Sephiroth?"

"We've heard sightings of him in town, but it's not likely we'll find him here."

"Then what do you think we should do?"

"Well he's obviously looking for a way across the ocean, I vote we board the next boat across the ocean."

"I vote we tear the town apart looking for him!"

"Shut it cloud that's stupid and you know it!"

"At least I don't smell!"

And so the arguments went on for the whole of the day. Being easily bored Yuffie decided to instead spending her time filching things from the market, which just so happened to be in the style of an Arabic bazaar. This all went well for a few hours before one particularly sharp eyed shopkeeper caught her trying to pocket a few revive potions.

"Thief! Guards quickly!" he yelled.

'Uh oh time to run' Yuffie thought. She dashed down a side street to avoid them, right into yet more soldiers. Forcing her to call upon her ninja talents to scale the wall of a nearby house.

"Catch her! Shoot her!" So the guards opened fire. One of the bullets caught the ledge right under the ninjas foot causing her to trip and fall off the roof. Right into the arms of a waiting guard. They dragged her back to the shop.

"This the one sir?" asked the captain of the 20 some odd soldiers assigned to market duty.

"Yes that's the little thief, tried pocketing all my revival potions. Good that you caught her, so a few nights in the hold hmm?" the shopkeeper said with a particularly mean light in his eyes.

"Yes about one night for everyone she stole…" the guard got a particularly nasty smile on his face. Yuffie looked sick, this was gonna hold up her quest for revenge, no doubt the moron brigade would still be arguing what to do by the time she got out but a few nights in jail didn't really appeal to her.

"Yes lets see that's…"

"No time she already paid for those." came a voice from near the register. Everyone looked over to see a cloaked man pointing at some money one the counter just enough to cover the potions.

"Uhm why uh…." stammered the merchant, he wasn't good at these kind of situations. The guard gave him a hard look.

"Release her. Our apologies mam. Alright boys back to your posts." The guards trooped off while the captain berated the merchant. Yuffie and the cloaked man slipped away.

"Thanks boss guess I owe u one." Yuffie muttered as they walked off.

"Don't worry about it, your no use to me in prison. Now I've some information for u about Sephiroth." said the cloaked man.

"What information?" Yuffie asked, maybe this could get the fools moving.

"He's boarded a ship heading across the ocean." the cloaked man said.

"How do you know all of this? And who are you?" Yuffie demanded, this guy's secrecy was really getting old.

"Patience, all will be revealed In time." And with that the cloaked man slipped off into the crowd.

"Ooooh you…!" Yuffie stuttered. She supposed it was time to go enlighten the idiot brigade and get the show rolling. She walked back through the bustling crowd of the market towards the cheap side of town. She arrived at the hotel after about 30 minutes of walking. She took a deep breath and climbed the stairs, not that she was expecting much trouble. Her superior intellect would soon squash all their fool arguments against it.

"I think we should build a giant catapult and start flinging chocobos at the sun to get Sephiroth's attention." said Barret, about half the fools actually nodded their heads.

"or you could just listen to the news I found out," Yuffie interjected before more stupidity could fill the room. Honestly it was a good thing she was around else these morons might never get anywhere.

"What did you discover?" Asked Cloud, trying to live up to his self appointed leader position.

"Sephiroth boarded a boat heading for the western continent, if we hurry we may still be able to sneak aboard."

It took all of five minutes to decide to go with Yuffie's plan. They paid their room fee and headed for the docks.Upon arrival the stole some clothing form a few drunken hobos and snuck aboard the ship.

Author's note: Short sorry, just wanted to update so you all no im still alive.


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